Navigating Global Complexity With Third-Party Logistics

In today’s world, global logistics is a mighty beast to tackle, with varying regulations, uncertainties in trade routes and finicky trade relationships. Over the past 10 years, the way companies operate has changed dramatically, driven by various geopolitical events. 

To help manage their operations, many organisations rely on third–party logistics providers. By outsourcing their supply chain and fulfilment operations, the organisations can grow to scale without spending time and resources on sending the product out. 

3PL organisations handle warehousing, inventory management, order picking, packing, shipping and return logistics – that way, the organisations relying on them can focus on internal operations.

These relationships can act as a lifeline to companies around the world, as 3PLs have the knowledge and the capabilities to ensure the logistics operations work as smoothly as possible, taking care of cross-border regulation changes, optimising trade routes and inventory management.

In the complexity of today’s global supply chain, 3PLs are critical to managing the demands of shipping, especially as ecommerce has driven the need for fast and reliable delivery. 

Alina Chesnokova, Vice President of Global 3PL Commercialisation at Cencora, and Saurabh Pitkar, Director of Product Management, Agentic Commerce at Dell Technologies, have seen the different sides of 3PL relationships, with strong understandings of how organisations cannot operate smoothly without them.

A need for reliable delivery

Though different organisations have different demands for logistics, the basics are the same; they need reliability, speed, scale, expertise and visibility. Pharmaceutical and technology delivery needs are generally very different, but both need security and accuracy, with deliveries either costing hundreds or thousands of dollars, or being a critical and lifesaving resource. 

Cencora, an American drug wholesale and distribution company, combines its global capabilities and local expertise in order to deliver vital treatments and care to people around the world. With a global network, it can safely and securely store products in its warehouses before navigating time-sensitive delivery, using innovative solutions to secure and grow the pharma supply chain. It offers end-to-end support across the healthcare spectrum, working closely with its pharma partners to understand the challenges they need to overcome in order to make a positive impact.

“We see pharma companies homing in on what they do best – developing and commercialising their products; and 3PL providers serve as trusted partners to ensure that the activities outside of this are executed perfectly,” explains Alina.

“Pharma and biotech companies invest heavily in drug development and commercialisation, so they need confidence knowing their efforts will not be compromised by supply chain failures that prevent products from reaching patients – making a reliable 3PL partner inherently more critical.”

In pharmaceutical supply chains, a reliable partner with strong cold-chain capabilities is vital, as products need to be carefully temperature-controlled in order to avoid spoilage. According to the World Health Organisation, up to 50% of global vaccine waste comes from temperature failures.

In technology supply chains, the market is so competitive that a poor delivery service can have a significant impact on the company’s success. Moreover, the technology needs to be stored securely in order to prevent electrostatic discharge (ESD), and the shippers need to comply with global regulations.

“For a hardware company, fulfilment is key to the brand experience. When a customer orders through dell.com, Amazon, Walmart or Best Buy, they hold Dell accountable for overall delivery experience regardless of who physically moves the product,” explains Saurabh.

“A missed delivery window or unreliable tracking directly erodes brand trust and repeat purchase loyalty. Reliable 3PL partnerships give us cost visibility, predictable SLAs and the operational consistency needed to compete across dozens of markets simultaneously.

"In our industry, where product cycles are fast and customer expectations are shaped by consumer e-commerce benchmarks, a 3PL that underperforms is a commercial liability and could lead to customer dissatisfaction.”

Today’s logistics challenges

Logistics is changing because the global supply chain is becoming increasingly complex. Cost pressures, unreliable trade routes and geopolitical tensions are all having a significant impact on how supply chains operate – not to mention growing consumer demand and the expectations that have followed the increase in same-day or next-day delivery.

As a result, logistics networks are being redesigned, with a focus on cost savings and resilience. Organisations have seen the value which comes from multimodal logistics providers, especially those which can handle the entire end-to-end logistics journey. Through this, they reduce hand-offs – where many of the errors emerge – and have a stronger oversight into regulatory needs and thorough knowledge of storage or technical requirements. 

“We’re seeing continuous cost pressures accelerate with the amount of uncertainty across major markets, including the US. In response, pharmaceutical and biotech companies are becoming considerably more focused on how they structure their supply chain partnerships,” says Alina.

“One of the clearest shifts across the industry is a preference for fewer, more strategic provider relationships; with priority to partner with a single 3PL that can bring multiple services under one roof. This model reduces complexity, improves accountability, strengthens connections across the wider pharma supply chain and gives manufacturers access to global scale, network reach and specialist expertise.”

Procurement and supply chain leaders are looking for resilience, visibility, cost savings, simplification and logistics optimisation. 

Saurabh explains, “At enterprise scale, three things matter most: interoperability, real-time visibility and operational flexibility.”

For organisations, this means covering inventory platforms and order management tools. Real-time visibility relies on live inventory and fulfilment status which can alert carriers and leaders of any data anomalies or disruption to streamlined workflows. The carriers then need to be able to react and adapt to these anomalies, whether it may be traffic issues, compliance issues or data fluctuations.

“Strong 3PL partners today operate like platform businesses: modular, API-first and built for dynamic integration,” Saurabh adds.

The role of technology

As demand has increased, so too has the instruction for organisations to do more with less spend. There is also the growing issue of skills gaps, labour shortages and greater complexity, leading to longer times for action. Due to this, digital tools have become more important for managing the workload and navigating complexity.

In the past, products were sold across one channel. Now, with the rise in social media and ecommerce, as well as brand partnerships and more, organisations sell across multiple platforms. This alone adds in extra layers of complexity and regulatory frameworks to manage, which is why 3PL organisations are critical for ensuring streamlined operations.

Saurabh explains: “Today, companies like Dell operate across direct, marketplace, B2B, agentic commerce and social commerce simultaneously, and each with distinct inventory pools, SLA requirements and regional compliance rules. Winning 3PL partners are those that can operate across this complexity without forcing brands to maintain a different logistics relationship for every channel.”

Manufacturers, therefore, need partners who can scale in order to meet these needs. “At the same time,” Alina adds, “ongoing margin pressure means manufacturers are looking for 3PL providers that continuously offer improved systems, such as automation, technologies like AI, and efficient operational models.”

AI has been a significant tool within 3PL operations, helping reduce the demand signal timeline. It covers much of the time-consuming, manual work, enabling the human workforce to handle other tasks. The AI tool allows for faster processing, ensuring that bottlenecks and delays are reduced.

Saurabh says: “With agentic commerce, humans are simply chatting in natural language while the AI is autonomously handling product discovery, configuration, and purchasing.” 

Through this, the fastest shipping options can be planned, creating accurate delivery windows and greater timeframes for the consumer. 

He concludes: “The partnerships that hold long-term commercial value are API-first, event-driven, and capable of syncing with autonomous commerce workflows in near real time.”

Cutting through complexity

The aim of 3PL companies is to ensure consistency across networks and support organisations as they grow. This means having the capabilities around the world to support innovative launches and be prepared for demand spikes.

“At Cencora, our goal is to become the partner of choice for pharmaceutical and biotech companies which require specialised logistics,” Alina notes. “We’re building capabilities in the US and Europe to support innovative launches, particularly in the cell and gene and radiopharma spaces. We know these new modalities are coming and will soon become the new norm, so we need to ensure our clients are confident we can continue to support them as they move into the next frontier of therapies.”

Alina and her team have an awareness of the ongoing complexity of the industry itself. Leading 3PL companies are able to take that complexity and simplify it so these products are accessible, visible and traceable at every step. In today’s volatile and ever-changing logistics world, businesses need confidence in their logistics partners so they can deliver the highest quality products to their customers. 

Alina states: “Overall, companies are looking for 3PL partnerships that do more than deliver individual services. They want, and need, partners that can help simplify operations, connect different parts of the supply chain and build a model that is better equipped to support long-term growth.”